Scholar Thierry de Duve discusses the legacy of Marcel Duchamp in conjunction with a new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) featuring seven of the artist’s “boîtes-en-valise.” These portable miniature museums, created decades before Duchamp’s first formal retrospective, are framed as evidence of his genius in anticipating the institutional logic of the modern museum. The conversation explores how Duchamp’s provocative works, such as the readymade "Fountain," fundamentally altered the trajectory of art history and defined the "post-Duchamp" era.
This analysis matters because it recontextualizes Duchamp not just as a historical provocateur, but as a visionary who predicted the commodification and archival nature of the art world. By examining his self-curated miniatures alongside major global art fairs like SP-Arte and Expo Chicago, the report highlights the tension between radical artistic origins and the highly structured, commercialized global art market of today.